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Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Mets have been one of the most improved baseball teams in the last 10 days in the National League. They had a three game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks in New York, and they have been playing much better.

Phils Avoid Sweep, Oswalt Leaves to be with family

The Phillies avoided a ‘sweep’ by the Diamondbacks on Wednesday afternoon in Phoenix, they have a well deserved day off on Thursday back at home in Philly. Roy Oswalt has left the team to deal with the terrible storms and destruction that affected his family, the storms have wrecked the south in the last few days. He’ll rejoin the club when he is able to.

Five Questions to Mets Blogger, Amazination about the Mets

Now we’ll get a feeling of how this NY Mets blogger feels about the Mets now, he’s Ian from the Mets blog, Amazination. Here’s 5 questions I asked Ian about the New York Mets this week:

1. Who has appeared the be the best pitcher so far on the Mets and why?

If you would of asked me a week or two ago, I would of said nobody in the rotation has stuck out to me. During this recent hot surge, just about every starter is coming off a good start. If you ask me though, two starters that i am most impressed with would be R.A Dickey & Dillon Gee. Dickey threw very well against the Astros at Citi Field last week. Though taking the loss, he threw 8 solid innings and flashed multiple signs of the R.A Dickey of last year, something we did not see during his previous three starts. A problem early on for R.A was walks which is something he was able to keep down all of 2010. Dickey had walked 3 or more batters in each of his first three starts which was alarming for Mets fans, Dickey went out against the Astros and only walked two over 8. Dillon Gee made several starts last year, and got his call for the bigs when Chris Young went on the DL. He sparkled in his only two starts against the Braves & D'Backs but was forced out of the rotation when Young was activated. GM Sandy Alderson had enough faith in him that they decided to send down D.J Carrasco for Young, and instead stick Gee in the bullpen. Gee is a pitcher that has nothing flashy but just goes out and throws strikes on a consistent basis. In the bullpen, Brooklyn Native and rule five draft pick Pedro Beato has been sensational in the early going. Beato has not allowed an earned run in each of the 8 appearances that he has made, and Terry Collins just continues to let him grow as he has been sticking him in bigger situations each time he takes the mound.

2. The Mets have suddenly become the hottest team in the NL, is this a fluke or are they really going to make an interesting run this year?

Do I believe this team or the hot surge is a fluke? No. Do I think their the best team in the division/NL right now? No. This team has talent and I do not believe anybody will go against that. This club has enough offensively to compete especially the way the middle of the order has been hitting as of late. Any Mets fan knew going into the season that our 1-7 in the lineup is as good as anybody's if we could stay healthy. Pitching has been a concern, though our rotation has began to go deeper in games. If the 2011 New York Mets want to win this season pitchers such as Mike Pelfrey, Jon Niese, and others need to step up when needed. Do i think we can win this season? Yes without a doubt. Pitching is just key, as this hot stretch is showing if we pitch, our offense will take care of the rest.

3. What is the best offensive weapon that the Mets have right now?

The Mets best offensive weapon right now is Ike Davis who currently ranks fifth in the majors in RBI's with 18 thus far. Davis has been outstanding in 2011, as his power has shown now more then ever. Ike is hitting the ball a long ways when he gets the right part of the bat on the ball, and he is even hitting for contact as through 23 games in 2011, Davis is hitting .338. Davis was on his way too an awesome sophomore season, but since Jason Bay has returned Ike is hitting the cover off the ball, and Bay just provides more protection and pushes Ike back in the order.

4. Do you think the Mets fans have lost some interest in the team when they haven't done that well in the past couple years?

Definitely. What i believe hits the fans the most is how good our team really is, and how they just haven't been able to produce when it matters the most. In past years the Mets have been predicted by numerous magazines, writers, and analysts to win the World Series, which gets the fans hopes up every season. For example in 2007 and 2008, we were made out too be the beasts of the East, and we were supposed to beat anybody. Obviously we had solid seasons but couldn't win when it counted which caused the horrific collapses. It seemed as if each season their was something missing, for instance in 07' we had trouble pitching and our offense was shaky; and then in 08' Billy Wagner went out with an injury which triggered in my mind one of the worst bullpens ever, with Luis Ayala taking over as closer. To me though, its not that we did collapse, or we did have awful seasons its how we did it and how we went about them which hurt the most. Their were also the seasons that were riddled by injury's, such as the one in 2009 when we were predicted by Sports Illustrated to be crowned the Champions. Another thing that really hurt a ton of fans were some of the strange moves off and on the field made by Omar Minaya and the Wilpons. The firing of Willie Randolph was curious as after a win in Anaheim at 3:00 in the morning, Randolph was fired by Minaya. Minaya also in 2009, was forced to let go of Tony Bernazard which propelled the scene at Citi Field when Omar Minaya accused ESPNNewYork's Adam Rubin of making false accusations about Bernazard because he wanted his job. Then with the Wilpon's the whole situation with the Madoffs is frustrating, as fans want details as to weather or not the Madoff situation will affect the way Sandy Alderson goes about his business. As a Mets fan, all of this has built up ever since 2007, and as a fan it gets tiring hearing it all and is very frustrating at the same time.

5. Who is your favorite Met player of all time and why?

I have a couple favorite Mets. A few of mine would be Mike Piazza, Carlos Beltran, Endy Chavez, Cliff Floyd, and David Wright. Probably my favorite out of those would be Mike Piazza, who i felt was the last piece to the NL Pennant winning 2000 New York Mets. Piazza was the heart and sole of this team and made so many memorable plays for this franchise, as prior to Piazza this team lacked. In the 90's when Mets fans thought they would never get back to dominance, Mike brought them back which to me is special.

Thank you Ian, that’s some awesome answers to the questions we’ve posed to you about the Mets. We’ll see what happens over the weekend with the Mets/Phillies matchup.

Get your oil changed and meet Luzinski in Willow Grove, PA on Friday

Want to meet former Phillies player Greg Luzinski ? He’ll be at an event for the Mobil Super ChangeUp Day here’s the details:

Greg "The Bull" Luzinski will be at an event on Friday, April 29 at the R and J Express Lube, featuring Mobil 1 Lube Express on 1 Park Avenue in Willow Grove and we'd love for you to come out. He will be there as part of a national Mobil Super “Changeup Day” program, which gives baseball fans the opportunity to meet legendary players, get autographs, win baseball tickets, gift certificates for car maintenance services and more.

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